Crime and Punishment: An Economic Approach
E431724
"Crime and Punishment: An Economic Approach" is a seminal 1968 paper by economist Gary Becker that applies rational choice and cost-benefit analysis to explain criminal behavior and the design of optimal law enforcement.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Crime and Punishment: An Economic Approach canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T4329431 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Crime and Punishment: An Economic Approach Context triple: [Gary Becker, notableWork, Crime and Punishment: An Economic Approach]
-
A.
The Economics of Justice
The Economics of Justice is a seminal book by Richard Posner that applies economic analysis to legal principles and the concept of justice.
-
B.
"Crime: Its Cause and Treatment"
"Crime: Its Cause and Treatment" is a 1922 non-fiction work by American lawyer Clarence Darrow that examines the social, economic, and psychological roots of criminal behavior and critiques traditional approaches to punishment.
-
C.
Human Action: A Treatise on Economics
"Human Action: A Treatise on Economics" is Ludwig von Mises’s seminal work of Austrian School economics, presenting a comprehensive, praxeological analysis of human behavior and market processes.
-
D.
Economic Analysis of Law
Economic Analysis of Law is a foundational legal theory book by Richard Posner that applies microeconomic principles to understand and evaluate legal rules and institutions.
-
E.
The Economics and Ethics of Private Property
The Economics and Ethics of Private Property is a libertarian treatise by Hans-Hermann Hoppe that defends private property, free markets, and anarcho-capitalism through praxeological and ethical arguments.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Crime and Punishment: An Economic Approach Target entity description: "Crime and Punishment: An Economic Approach" is a seminal 1968 paper by economist Gary Becker that applies rational choice and cost-benefit analysis to explain criminal behavior and the design of optimal law enforcement.
-
A.
The Economics of Justice
The Economics of Justice is a seminal book by Richard Posner that applies economic analysis to legal principles and the concept of justice.
-
B.
"Crime: Its Cause and Treatment"
"Crime: Its Cause and Treatment" is a 1922 non-fiction work by American lawyer Clarence Darrow that examines the social, economic, and psychological roots of criminal behavior and critiques traditional approaches to punishment.
-
C.
Human Action: A Treatise on Economics
"Human Action: A Treatise on Economics" is Ludwig von Mises’s seminal work of Austrian School economics, presenting a comprehensive, praxeological analysis of human behavior and market processes.
-
D.
Economic Analysis of Law
Economic Analysis of Law is a foundational legal theory book by Richard Posner that applies microeconomic principles to understand and evaluate legal rules and institutions.
-
E.
The Economics and Ethics of Private Property
The Economics and Ethics of Private Property is a libertarian treatise by Hans-Hermann Hoppe that defends private property, free markets, and anarcho-capitalism through praxeological and ethical arguments.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
academic paper
ⓘ
economics paper ⓘ |
| analyzes | trade-off between probability and severity of punishment ⓘ |
| argues |
fines are often more efficient than imprisonment
ⓘ
optimal enforcement balances enforcement costs and crime reduction benefits ⓘ |
| assumption |
crime is a choice among alternative activities
ⓘ
individuals are rational utility maximizers ⓘ law enforcement resources are costly ⓘ |
| author |
Gary Becker
ⓘ
Gary S. Becker ⓘ
linked to:
Gary Becker
|
| centralConcept |
cost-benefit analysis
ⓘ
deterrence ⓘ expected utility ⓘ fines ⓘ imprisonment ⓘ optimal law enforcement ⓘ probability of punishment ⓘ rational choice ⓘ severity of punishment ⓘ social welfare maximization ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin |
United States
ⓘ
linked to:
United States of America
|
| field | economics ⓘ |
| influenced |
deterrence-based criminal justice policies
ⓘ
economic models of criminal behavior ⓘ |
| influencedField |
economics of crime
ⓘ
law and economics ⓘ public policy analysis ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| methodology |
comparative statics analysis
ⓘ
formal economic modeling ⓘ |
| proposes | individuals commit crime when expected benefits exceed expected costs ⓘ |
| publicationYear | 1968 ⓘ |
| publishedIn | Journal of Political Economy ⓘ |
| relatedConcept |
expected punishment
ⓘ
marginal deterrence ⓘ optimal sanctions ⓘ |
| relatedWork | The Economic Approach to Human Behavior ⓘ |
| status |
foundational paper in economics of crime
ⓘ
seminal work in law and economics ⓘ |
| subfield |
economics of crime
ⓘ
law and economics ⓘ microeconomics ⓘ |
| theoreticalFramework |
neoclassical economics
ⓘ
rational actor model ⓘ |
| topic |
allocation of resources to law enforcement
ⓘ
design of optimal criminal justice policy ⓘ sanction structures ⓘ social costs of crime ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Crime and Punishment: An Economic Approach Description of subject: "Crime and Punishment: An Economic Approach" is a seminal 1968 paper by economist Gary Becker that applies rational choice and cost-benefit analysis to explain criminal behavior and the design of optimal law enforcement.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.